Work Plan

July 2014
Prepared by the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation
NC Digital Learning Project Work Plan July 1, 2014
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Introduction
This report outlines the Friday Institutes work plan for the development of the North
Carolina Digital Learning Plan (NCDLP) pursuant to Section 6.11(g) of S.L. 2013-
3601. The plan supports the scope of work approved by the North Carolina State Board
of Education in April 2014. This report builds upon the Digital Learning Plan Policy
Brief, submitted on June 1, 2014, which sets the stage for the overall planning effort. The
Policy Brief summarizes the rationale for the plan, North Carolinas progress on the
transition to digital learning, relevant recent Legislative and State Board of Education
actions and the key elements of the K-12 digital learning transition. It also includes the
following set of questions that the NCDLP will address:

1. What exemplary approaches and lessons learned from local school districts
digital learning initiatives should North Carolina build upon?
2. How will North Carolina transition from funding for textbooks to funding for
digital materials that are aligned with curriculum, remain current, and are
effective for all learners?
3. How will existing systems, such as Home Base and the North Carolina Virtual
Public School, support the transition to digital resources and digital learning?
4. How will North Carolina ensure that every public school has the technology,
service, and support infrastructure needed to sustain robust digital learning?
5. How will North Carolina build or enhance the capacity of all its teachers, school
leaders, and district leaders, to fully utilize digital resources and meet the new
digital learning standards?
6. How do State and local education policies and processes need to be updated and
revised to further digital learning?
7. How can North Carolina best support current and future local digital learning
transitions in districts throughout the State?
8. How does the digital learning transition impact school budgets and how can the
digital learning transition be funded?
9. How will the K-12 digital learning transition impact post-secondary teaching and
learning in North Carolina?

This Work Plan describes the organization, governance, and tasks to address these
questions. It also provides recommendations to further the digital learning transition
throughout North Carolinas K-12 public and charter schools.

Future deliverables include a stand-alone Wireless Infrastructure Plan, an updated Policy
Brief, a Digital Learning Feasibility Study and Assessment Report, and a Final Report;
each of which are described below and the schedule for each is shown in Figure 1.

NC Digital Learning Project Work Plan July 1, 2014
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Figure 1: Deliverables Timeline
Wireless Infrastructure Plan
The Wireless Infrastructure Plan, due September 1, 2014, will address cost, deployment,
and usage models for school wireless networks, considering the various digital learning
technology options. The plan will be developed in response to and in accordance with
emerging changes to the federal E-Rate program that directly relates to providing school
level discounts for wireless infrastructure deployments. Based upon our extensive prior
work in the School Connectivity and K-12 Cloud initiatives, we expect to recommend a
statewide consortia approach. The Wireless Infrastructure Plan will be incorporated into
the final digital learning plan.
Policy Brief Update
The Policy Brief Update, due January 1, 2015, will summarize initial digital learning plan
findings and recommendations for policy makers. To the extent possible at that stage of
the project, the update will provide specific recommendations for consideration by the
General Assembly during the 2015 long session. These policy and funding
recommendations will comprise a subset of recommendations that will be included in the
final digital learning plan.
Digital Learning Feasibility Study and Assessment Report
The Digital Learning Feasibility Study and Assessment Report, due May 1, 2015, is the
core deliverable of the digital learning work. The feasibility study and assessment report
will address the nine questions spelled out in the Policy Brief. It will define a North
Carolina digital learning framework, summarize current assets and capabilities, and
provide recommendations for the States roles in supporting districts and schools
implement effective digital learning programs.
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Final Report
The Final Report, due August 1, 2015, combines all of the deliverable documents along
with supporting data and materials. The Final Report will also include sample transition
plans for five to seven districts that are representative of a continuum of possible
transition trajectories. Finally, this report will incorporate next steps based on actions
taken by the General Assembly and State Board of Education prior to the completion of
the report.
Building on North Carolinas Momentum
The digital learning plan both impacts and will be impacted by a number of emerging and
developing laws, initiatives, and programs. We summarize the major ones below.
Legislation
Digital learning legislation enacted during the 2013-14 biennium is primarily based on
recommendations outlined in the December 2012 Final Report of the Legislative
Research Commission's Committee on Digital Learning Environments in Public Schools,
chaired by Senator Dan Soucek and Representative Craig Horn.

Session Law 2013-12 outlines the intention of the General Assembly to transition from
funding textbooks to funding digital learning materials in public schools. Session Law
2013-11 directs the State Board of Education to implement digital teaching and learning
standards. Session Law 2013-3601 Section 6.11(g) allocates lottery funds to public
schools via grants and includes the provision that is the basis for the digital learning plan.
Home Base
The NC Department of Public Instructions Home Base comprises a suite of applications
that are foundational to a digital learning environment. The following platforms
comprise the Home Base system:

Pearson PowerSchool is the student information system (SIS) that replaces
NCWISE. North Carolina is unique for having a single SIS used by all Local
Education Agencies (LEAs) and charter schools. Having a single SIS application
simplifies feeding roster data into Learning Management Systems (LMS) and
other online assessment platforms. LEAs and charter schools are required to use
this system to report their data.
Pearson TestNAV is a high stakes online assessment platform. North Carolina
delivers curriculum aligned assessments online using a tool known as NCTest,
developed by the North Carolina State University Center for Urban Affairs and
Community Services under the technical outreach to public schools contract. The
relationship between TestNAV, NCTest, and the emerging Smarter Balanced
Assessment Consortium platform is still developing. LEAs and charter schools
must use the TextNAV system once implemented.
Pearson Schoolnet is a software system that helps teachers and administrators
with curriculum management, classroom and benchmark assessment
management, and data visualization of key performance indicators. In order to
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develop content on Schoolnet, the Governors Teacher Network, as well as
district teams, are creating and curating materials to be loaded into the
application. These lessons, along with curated resources and other instructional
materials are being made available to teachers in Schoolnet. Use of this system is
optional for LEAs and charter schools.
Pearson OpenClass is a free cloud-based learning management system that
districts, schools, and individual teachers may use to manage a class online.
OpenClass includes social networking and collaboration tools, a grade book, tools
to share and develop content, and integration with Google Apps.
True North Logic Educator Evaluation system provides an online tool and
workflow engine supporting evaluation of teachers and principals. It replaces the
prior McREL system. LEAs and charter schools must use this system.
True North Logic Professional Learning System is a software platform that
provides a course catalog of professional development content and allows
teachers to register for professional development, evaluate courses, view
transcripts and schedules, and to perform other related learning management
capabilities. Use of this system is optional for LEAs and charter schools.

Existing appropriations for the Uniform Education Reporting System sustain each of the
systems mentioned above. The initial Home Base rollout also includes a collection of
content with subscriptions that costs $6 million per year. North Carolinas Department of
Public Instruction (NCDPI) is seeking an appropriation to sustain this content, but, in the
event that no State funding is available, has also defined a plan for LEAs to opt-in to
components of Home Base. The NCDLP content and funding and policy teams will
maintain synchronization with NCDPI on Home Base content integration and
sustainability matters.
School Connectivity and E-Rate
The School Connectivity Initiative (SCI) provides for a statewide education network that
connects all public schools to the Internet with reliable high-speed connections. SCI does
not provide funding for internal school connections, so many schools do not yet have
adequate wireless infrastructure to provide reliable access throughout the building. There
is a lot of federal activity level targeting school connectivity, including a focus on
providing funding for school WiFi deployments. The Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) has announced its intention to double broadband funding in 2014
within the E-Rate program and to modernize the program as part of its E-Rate 2.0 push in
2015. The E-Rate modernization work supports President Obamas ConnectED
initiative, which was first announced in Mooresville, NC in 2013. The FCC will likely
vote on and announce an initial cadre of new administrative and eligibility rules during
summer 2014. These new rules will likely include details related to E-Rate support for
internal school connections with a substantial focus on wireless.

This rule making will impact timing and sustainability of North Carolina efforts to
support digital learning at the classroom level. North Carolina may have an opportunity
to secure one-time funding to kick-start an organized statewide deployment of wireless
infrastructure in schools in 2014. In addition to being ready to submit a proposal once the
NC Digital Learning Project Work Plan July 1, 2014
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opportunity becomes better defined, North Carolina leaders must create a sustainability
model that addresses operational support and funding beyond any one-time investment.
The office of the Governor, the Friday Institute, MCNC, and the office of the Lieutenant
Governor have all been engaged in conversations with the FCC Commissioners and staff
to address these issues. The NCDLP technology infrastructure planning is synchronized
with these existing efforts.
NC Education Cloud Shared Services
The NC Education Cloud program (hereafter cloud) is funded via $34M from North
Carolinas $400M Race to the Top grant. Cloud funding is assessed against the LEA
portion of the grant and as such is focused on providing services and infrastructure that
directly benefits LEAs and charter schools. The cloud work includes:

1. Statewide identity and access management services (IAMS) that automates the
creation of user accounts for students, parents, educators, and guests. Further
IAMS allows districts to automatically associate those accounts with applications
hosted in the cloud.
2. A hosting service in place of the IBM AS/400 platform that most LEAs
historically deployed to support finance, payroll, and HR applications, resulting in
significant cost savings.
3. A learning object repository (LOR) based on an expansion of the Community
College System LOR that allows for the vetting, labeling, aligning, and publishing
of K12 content resources in a way that makes it more efficient for LEAs and
charter schools to manage online content delivery using multiple learning
management applications without having to custom integrate the content with
each different application (e.g., Moodle, Blackboard, Edmodo, Haiku, etc.)
4. Convenience contracts for mobile device management (MDM) and LMS
applications. MDM platforms allow districts to manage laptops, tablets, smart
phones, and related mobile devices in an organized way including installing
common software, tracking of devices, and managing compliance with federal
privacy and child protection laws. LMS applications serve as the core platform in
a digital learning environment. The LMS connects classes with students,
teachers, parents, and content.

The cloud work helps set the stage for digital learning through shared infrastructure
services, like IAMS and LOR, and by helping to establish cost effective solutions for
learning management and mobile device management platforms.
The North Carolina Virtual Public School
Since 2007 the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) has delivered teacher-led
online courses to North Carolina high school students. The NCVPS offers a catalog of
over 150 courses and serves 50,000 students across all 115 LEAs. The NCVPS team
manages course delivery via LMSs and has operationalized the selection, creation, and
management of online content. NCVPS content, process, and operating model will
inform digital learning content and pedagogical elements of the digital learning plan.
NC Digital Learning Project Work Plan July 1, 2014
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Golden Leaf Foundation and Race to the Top Funding for Local Initiatives
Since 2007, The Golden Leaf Foundation (GLF) has awarded grants for digital learning
initiatives to 36 local education agencies in North Carolina. Additionally, GLF has given
grants to the New Schools Project, The Friday Institute, and UNC Greensboro to support
the initiatives in recipients schools. GLF's investment in K-12 digital learning initiatives
totals more than $26.7 million. Golden Leaf Foundation grants to the Friday Institute
have supported the development of a digital learning readiness rubric for use by LEA
grantees, professional development, technical assistance, and program evaluation
services. In addition, about $100 million of the Race to the Top funding that went to
local districts and charter schools has been spent on wireless infrastructure, device, and
related professional development.
Project Organization and Governance
The overall project organization and governance structure is shown in Figure 2. The plan
for leadership, management, advisory groups and oversight, is described below. The
Work Teams at the Friday Institute are described in the following section.

Figure 2: North Carolina Digital Learning Plan Organization and Governance
Friday Institute Leadership Team
The Friday Institute Leadership Team for the NCDLP is comprised of the following four
people. Each brings extensive relevant experience and expertise in areas central to the
planning effort:

Glenn Kleiman, Executive Director
Mary Ann Wolf, Director of Digital Learning Programs
Jeni Corn, Director of Evaluation Programs
Phil Emer, Director of Technology Planning and Policy
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NC Digital Learning Project Work Plan July 1, 2014
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This Leadership Team is responsible for project planning, implementation, and
management. This team will set directions and supervise multiple Work Teams that are
each responsible for specific areas of work, as described below. Most importantly, the
Leadership Team is responsible for coordinating and synthesizing the efforts of the Work
Teams to produce a coherent, systematic plan that addresses all the elements required to
foster successful digital learning transitions in K-12 schools Statewide.

The project will also benefit from the expertise of two groups of consultants who will
support our work. One group consists of national leaders in digital learning who bring
lessons learned from work in other states and from research. The second group consists
of North Carolina education leaders who bring deep knowledge of the State and LEAs.
The Leadership Team is in process of identifying and making arrangements with the
consultants in each group.
Project Management
Jeni Corn will serve as the Project Director responsible for day-to-day project
management. She is supported by Lauren Bryant and Jordan DeWitt and advised by
Glenn Kleiman, Executive Director of the Friday Institute.

The Project Management group is responsible for the following:
Overall planning and monitoring of the work;
Assigning staff and consultants to Work Teams and tasks;
Coordination with NCDPI, the State Board of Education, the Offices of the
Governor and Lt. Governor, and relevant Legislative Committees;
Planning presentations and responding to requests about the project;
Communications with advisors and stakeholders;
Coordinating the overall data collection and analyses;
Coordination with LEAs and charter schools to ensure that requests for
information are handled efficiently.
Advisory Groups
An Advisory Board comprised of North Carolina education, government and business
leaders will help guide the work of the Leadership Team by reviewing plans, findings and
recommendations. In consultation with NCDPI leadership, the Friday Institute has
identified 24 individuals who will be invited to serve on this Board, seeking to represent
all major stakeholder groups. Invitations will be sent early in July. The Board will meet
quarterly beginning in September 2014, with each meeting planned for three hours.
Members will be able to participate either in person or via video or audio conferencing to
enable participation by members from throughout the State..

Each of the four Work Teams (described below) will have its own Stakeholder Advisory
group, consisting of selected individuals representing LEAs, IHEs, NCDPI, and other
relevant organizations. The Stakeholder Advisory groups will review the Work Team
plans, findings, and recommendations. Each Work Team will establish the schedule for
the meetings of these groups in accordance with their work plans and schedules.
NC Digital Learning Project Work Plan July 1, 2014
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Oversight
The North Carolina State Board of Education provides overarching governance and
oversight of the digital learning plan work.
1
The NCDPI leadership team provides direct
oversight for the work, with the following people having primary responsibility:

Philip Price, Chief Financial Officer
Tracy Weeks, Chief Academic and Digital Learning Officer
Michael Nicolaides, Chief Information Officer

The Friday Institute Leadership Team will be in frequent communication with the NCDPI
team and will report to the State Board of Education whenever requested. The
Leadership Team will also work with NCDPI and the State Board to provide updates to
the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee, the Joint Legislative Information
Technology Oversight Committee of the NC General Assembly, the Office of the
Governor, and the Office of the Lt. Governor.
Friday Institute Work Teams
The work has been divided among four major Work Teams, each focusing on specific
components of the overall plan and on specific major questions from the Policy Brief.
Figure 3 shows the Work Teams and summarizes the major areas of work for each.

Figure 3: Work Teams

1
The Office of State Budget Management and the Enterprise Project Management Office
of the NC State CIO also provide operational oversight per NC statute.
Enabling Polices Supportive Funding Strategies
Human Capacity Change Management
Technology Infrastructure Any Device, Anywhere
Digital Resources 21
st
Century Pedagogy
Ensuring that all state and local policies enable and
encourage digital learning.
Aligning all Federal, State, and Local funding to
support a sustainable digital learning model.
Building capacity with teachers and instructional
leaders to shift the classroom model.
Supporting multiple methods of instruction to
ensure that every student is progressing.
Ensuring that robust and reliable connectivity to
every device, in every school and public library.
Digital Learning is more than an e-book. Content
should foster collaboration and be real world based.
Assessment is an ongoing process built into the
content model, not a one-time event.
NC Digital Learning Project Work Plan July 1, 2014
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Each Work Team has a Coordinator and team members who will be responsible for
gathering and synthesizing relevant information, all with deep expertise in the relevant
areas. Each also has a designated member of the Leadership Team to provide advice and
to make sure the work is well coordinated with that of the other Teams. The Work
Teams, coordinators, and leadership team advisors are shown below, along with the
major questions each Team will address.

Two of the nine questions from the Policy Brief are global and will be addressed by each
the working groups from the perspective of the individual groups focus area:

What exemplary approaches and lessons learned from local school districts
digital learning initiatives should North Carolina build upon?
How can North Carolina best support current and future local digital learning
transitions in districts throughout the State?

The remainder of the core questions and supporting work will be performed across the
four Work Teams as summarized below, with the Team Coordinator and Advisor listed
after each Team title.
Digital Resources and Pedagogy: Mark Samberg, Glenn Kleiman

As districts and charter schools throughout North Carolina move towards digitally
enabled learning environments and new curriculum standards, many are already using
digital resources to replace textbooks. Schools across the State are exploring new models
for the use and distribution of content. For example, some LEAs and consortia have paid
master teachers to create course materials aligned to the curriculum, using available
digital resources. Others have purchased content packages to replace traditional
textbooks, either online courseware or digital alternatives to traditional textbooks. The
Governors Teacher Network is also developing content for statewide use. North
Carolina educators are using the SchoolNet component of Home Base and the North
Carolina Learning Object Repository to support digital content development.

In addition, the transition to digitally enabled learning has facilitated the development of
new models of instruction across the State. The key issues to be addressed relative to
pedagogy include: the need to personalize learning; competency and mastery based
coursework; self-paced, blended and flipped instructional practices; and addressing
student learning differences within the classroom. The Digital Content and Pedagogy
Team will also examine formative and summative assessment related to content.
This Team will develop recommendations in response to the following central questions
from the Policy Brief:
How will North Carolina transition from funding for textbooks to funding for
digital materials that are aligned with curriculum, remain current, and are
effective for all learners?
How will existing systems, such as Home Base and the NC Virtual Public
School, support the transition to digital resources and digital learning?

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To address these questions, the activities of this Work Team will include the following:
Collecting information about the digital resources being purchased or
developed by NC LEAs and charter schools and their effectiveness in
furthering students learning.
Developing recommendations for curating, licensing, publishing, aligning,
and procuring digital instructional resources, including open education
resources, locally created content, shared content, subscription-based
solutions, and virtual courses.
Developing recommendations for metadata and tagging, Application
Programming Interface (API) and data integration standards, learner
dashboards, data interoperability and data exchanges, privacy, and other
technical requirements.
Developing recommendations for the integration of formative assessments,
learning analytics, and student data dashboards into the learning resources.
Developing recommendations for the instructional practices, structures and
supports required for the effective use of digital education resources.
Analyzing the costs of alternative approaches to digital resources.
Human Capacity and Change Management, Neill Kimrey, Mary Ann Wolf

Human Capacity plays an essential role in being able to implement digital learning, as
systems, software, and policies will not translate into effective teaching and learning
without it. This Work Team will develop a comprehensive plan for developing human
capacity in the classroom, at the school administration level, within the central office, at
NCDPI, and across education service and support organizations. This work will build
upon research that defines effective practices in adult professional learning, the process
of change in K-12 schools and other organizations, and the culture of schools that
effectively implement digital learning initiatives. This Team will also develop
recommendations for change management, since the transition to digital learning requires
changes in roles, processes, and expectations - and, in broad terms, the culture of teaching
and learning.

This Team will develop recommendations in response to the following central questions
from the Policy Brief:

How will North Carolina build or enhance the capacity of all its teachers,
school leaders, and district leaders, to fully utilize digital resources and meet
the new digital learning standards?
How will the K-12 digital learning transition impact post-secondary teaching
and learning in North Carolina?

To address these questions, the activities of this Work Team will include the following:

Research models of how states, districts, and schools have helped to build
human capacity for the effective implementation of digital learning.
NC Digital Learning Project Work Plan July 1, 2014
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Research effective practices for organizational and cultural changes in K-12
schools to support the transition to digital learning.
Analyze the current status of roles and capacities to support digital learning in
North Carolina schools.
Articulate research-based approaches to providing effective, job-embedded
professional development for teachers, administrators, pre-service education
faculty and professional development providers, State staff, and others to
implement and sustain digital learning.
Develop recommendations for standards related to digital learning for
teachers, administrators and faculty.
Document potential strategies, policies, and costs associated with the human
capacity component of digital learning.
Technology Infrastructure, Ray Zeisz, Phil Emer

While much of the NCDLP will focus on content, personalized learning, and human
capacity, a digital learning initiative cannot succeed without a robust, extensible, and
reliable network. Connectivity at the classroom level, community access, identity and
access management, mobile device management, data integration, and other integration
mechanisms are part of this work.

The Technology Infrastructure Work Team has already begun to engage with LEAs, DPI,
ITS, wireless equipment vendors, and NC State University in order to develop a
comprehensive model of the network, best practices, lessons learned, and strategies for
success. The resulting analysis will enable LEAs to make informed decisions and help
foster success and equity.

This Work Team will develop recommendations in response to the following central
question from the Policy Brief:

How will North Carolina ensure that every public school has the technology,
service, and support infrastructure needed to sustain robust digital learning?

To address this question, the activities of this Work Team will include the following:

Understand the current network designs, capabilities, and costs of networks to
LEAs and charter schools.
Develop criteria for a school network that effectively supports digital learning.
Analyze the current total cost of ownership for network connectivity, and
extrapolate, based on high-density student device deployment, the future cost to
provide infrastructure capable of supporting digital learning at scale.
Investigate the various technologies available for classroom connectivity,
including wired infrastructure, client devices and wireless access points.
Investigate away-from-school access options, to ensure the maximum opportunity
for students to complete homework and study while not in the school building.
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Develop standards and best practices for LEAs and schools to adopt with regard
to WiFi product selection, network architecture, student device selection and
Internet connectivity.
Development recommendations for charter schools networking infrastructures,
which involves special challenges since these schools often assume the
responsibilities of an LEA for connectivity and E-Rate.
Make recommendations for proving out-of-school access to students who are
underserved or unable to afford access at home.
Develop an idealized network model that can support digital learning for the next
10 years.
Policy and Funding, Trip Stallings, Phil Emer

The goal of the Policy and Funding Team is to provide grounded recommendations to the
other Teams with respect to policy and funding changes that will likely be required in
order to implement their proposed planboth for the initial start-up phase and across the
longer developmental and implementation phases.

The Policy and Funding Team will focus on two areas: (a) funding feasibility and sources
(federal, State, and local), and (b) policy roadblocks and gaps. The first phase of the
work will include: (a) understanding the landscape of relevant federal, State, and local
rules and regulations related to critical components of the plan (e.g., digital content,
privacy of personal data, etc.); and then (b) identifying pending and existing statutes and
policies that might impede the implementation of the plan. The second phase will be to
prioritize, develop, and propose changes or additions to State and local statutes and
policies that can help improve the implementation of the plan. This Work Team will
obtain advice from NCDPI Financial and Business Services, the NC Office of State
Budget and Management, Legislative Research, and other State entities that can provide
relevant information.

This Team will develop recommendations in response to the following central questions
from the Policy Brief:

How do State and local education policies and processes need to be updated
and revised to further digital learning?
How does the digital learning transition impact school budgets and how can
the digital learning transition be funded?

To address these questions, the activities of this Work Team will include the following:
Determine whether there are any federal, State, State Board of Education, or
local policy and/or statute barriers to accessing, purchasing, developing and
incorporating digital content.
Determine whether there are any federal, State, State Board of Education, or
local policy and/or statute barriers using the data necessary for full operation of
the various components of the plan.
Determine what current or pending legislation supports or contradicts the plan
NC Digital Learning Project Work Plan July 1, 2014
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and whether any current or pending legislation needs to be amended, stricken, or
replaced.
Gather lessons learned from other states about potential changes in statutes or
policies that might help guide our work.
Estimate costs of each of the plans elements, and make recommendations for
possible sources of funding for the costs.

Data Driven Approach

All of the Work Teams will apply a data driven approach to developing
recommendations. The Teams will employ a needs assessment/asset inventory
framework to help guide the data collection, organization, and analysis throughout the
project. Based on the work of J. Altshuld
2
, this approach provides a research-based,
comprehensive framework to identify and prioritize needs and assets related to digital
learning that will help guide strategic recommendations for the State. Members of the
Friday Institute evaluation team have been assigned to each of the Work Teams as a way
to facilitate intentional, systemic, cross-team data collection and analysis. Our approach
for developing the NCDLP will take place in three phases: Phase 1, organize and
interpret existing data sources; Phase 2, targeted data collection and analysis within the
Work Teams; and Phase 3, synthesize findings into a useable format for education
stakeholders and decision-makers. Local, State and national education stakeholders will
be engaged in each phase of the development of the plan.

Phase 1 (Summer 2014) will use existing data to identify digital learning resources,
strengths, assets, and needs, and will take place throughout Summer 2014 (see Table 1
for existing data sources and sample sizes). In addition to organizing and interpreting
existing data, initial discussions and information gathering sessions with stakeholders in
the field will also take place. The existing data and information gathering sessions will be
synthesized to plan the work of Phase 2, the collection of new data organized around the
four Work Teams.

During Phase 2 (Fall 2014-Winter 2015), the team will turn its attention to collecting new
information based on gaps identified during Phase 1. This targeted data collection will
include extended site visits within each region of the State, regional stakeholder input
meetings, surveys and focus groups that will enable the four Work Teams to make deep
dives into their respective areas. It is also during this phase that the team will begin
prioritizing the needs that emerge from the data.

Phase 3 (February to August 2015). The Work Teams will prioritize emergent needs and
will identify and explore potential solutions for those deemed highest-priority. This final
phase culminates in the creation of recommendations about solutions to high-priority
needs for the State.


2
Altshuld, J. (2014), Bridging the gap between asset/capacity building and needs
assessment. Los Angeles: Sage.
NC Digital Learning Project Work Plan July 1, 2014
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Throughout Phases 1 and 2, the team will collect and analyze both qualitative and
quantitative data to assess LEA and school readiness for digital learning. Table 1 lists a
sampling of likely sources for existing data. New data collection will include visits to
exemplary schools and LEAs, engaging with private sector providers, and researching
models of effective digital learning transitions.


Data Source Collection Date Sample Size
NC Teacher Working
Conditions Survey
Spring 2014 93,178 teachers from 2,519 schools
School Technology Needs
Assessment (STNA) Survey
for Teachers
2013-14 11,402 teachers
School Technology Needs
Assessment (STNA) Survey
for Students
2013-14 22,902 students
NCDPI Annual Media and
Technology Report
2013 All district tech directors with data
from every school
Friday Institute STEM
Surveys
2013-2014 528 teachers and 16,877 students

Speak-up Survey 2013 26,635 respondents from 40 districts,
including students, teachers, parents,
librarians, and administrators

NC Race to the Top
Evaluation Omnibus Survey
2013-2014 13,889 teachers from a matrix
sampling of representative schools
across 97 districts
NC Race to the Top
Evaluation Professional
Development Coordinator
Fall 2013 85 district professional development
coordinators from across the State
Race to the Top Cloud
Computing Initiative Wireless
& 1:1 Survey
May 2013 114 districts
Project 24 School or District
Digital Learning Needs
Assessment Survey
2013-14 129 North Carolina schools as part of
a national survey
Table 1. Digital learning data sources from NC schools from the 2013-14

The team will use Qualtrics
3
, a secure online survey system for online data collection that
protects survey respondents personal and identifying information. Focus groups will be
recorded and transcribed to ensure accuracy; however, participants personal, school, and
LEA identifiers will not be used when reporting the data.


3
http://oirp.ncsu.edu/srvy/qltrx
NC Digital Learning Project Work Plan July 1, 2014
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Timeline

The attached timeline shows the schedule for the major planned activities.
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D
e
c
-
1
4
J
a
n
-
1
5
F
e
b
-
1
5
M
a
r
-
1
5
A
p
r
-
1
5
M
a
y
-
1
5
J
u
n
-
1
5
J
u
l
-
1
5
A
u
g
-
1
5
Project Management and Comms.
Update DPI Leadership ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Update NCSBE ! ! ! !
Organize regional town hall mtgs
Update Superintendents ! ! ! ! !
Initial Policy Brief "
Research HB44
Gather background data
Vet with policy staff
Detailed Work Plan "
Define organization
Identify resources
Define work streams
Organize the work
Wireless Infrastructure Plan "
Gather historical connectivity data
Research vendor offerings
Survey best practices
Define wifi implementation stds
Create design and cost templates
Policy Brief Update "
Identify DL costs and funding
Develop early recommendations
Review fed, state, and local policies
Develop final recommendations
Digital Learning Feasibility Study "
and Assessment Report
Organize and interpret existing data
Gather gap data
Prioritize emergent needs
Investigate models and exemplars
Articulate state and local roles
Classify districts on transition scale
Final Report "
Identify representative districts
Develop model transition plans
Consolidate data
Incorporate next steps